Don't Forget
by Legend96
Summary: 3.Oct.11 series, Part One  On October 3, Edward asks Winry to accompany him to some very significant places. And she goes. Slight EdWin.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Arakawa-Sensei does, however. B| And we should all thank her for creating such awesomeness.**

"Hey, Winry?"

She glanced up from the leg she was adjusting, to the owner of it - who had it on but without connected nerves - blinking behind her goggles. A thoughtful frown rested on his face, and his eyes held a slightly far away gleam.

"Yeah, Ed?" she answered, pushing the goggles up from her face and dropping the screwdriver. He didn't answer for a moment, and she waited patiently, fingers tapping on the metal plating of the limb.

He swallowed and said, "It's October third."

And everything snapped into place.

Why he'd been so quiet throughout the day.

Why every time she caught sight of him, he seemed lost.

Why he had even picked up the phone before placing it back down on the cradle once.

Her hands clenched around his leg, tension rising in her shoulders. She remembered that day, and she hardly wanted to. The day Ed and Al burned down their home, so they wouldn't have a place to go back to. The day they left, the day they deemed to be the start of a very long journey. The day Winry cried because Ed refused to.

"Oh," she said simply. "Yeah," he agreed, "oh."

It was silent for a time again. She slid her goggles back over her eyes, picking up the screwdriver and returning to the leg. For another few minutes it was just the sound of metal tinkling together, and breathing. When she ran out of pieces and segments to double check or readjust, she looked up at the former alchemist again.

His eyes were locked on the ceiling, hands twined behind his head. "Ed, I'm going to connect the nerves now." Her voice seemed to bring him back. He looked at her, nodded, and said, "After that I'm gonna visit Mom."

She made a noise of agreement in her throat, and started counting. "One."

He tensed, gripping the sides of his chair.

"Two."

She poised the wrench, hands firmly gripping the tool and the leg.

"Three."

He jumped, hissing as she jerked the wrench quickly. It fell silent once more, and then he moved, testing the artificial limb. A wry smile happened across his face as he stood. She followed suit, picked up the folded pants on the corner of her worktable and handed them to him.

He took them from her and with an almost scared face, asked, "Come with me?"

Her breath caught in her throat, and she pulled her goggles away from her head, peeling off the bandana around her hair. She blinked rapidly as she stooped to gather spare parts, planning to put them away in the next few moments.

"Uh, Ed, I don't know," she answered, voice soft. She turned to walk towards the closet where most of the automail supplies was kept.

She felt a warm hand on her bare shoulder, and she turned herself around to look at him. His lips were drawn tight, eyes unwavering.

"Please," he said.

With this she nodded, and she told him, "Anywhere else you plan on going?"

He sighed and looked away, towards the window. "Yeah."

She grabbed his hand quickly, squeezing it reassuringly. He squeezed back for a moment and allowed her to walk away. She wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted her with him. Didn't she always cry on days like these when she was with him? Didn't she always feel as if she had to cry for him, because he never would?

It was only a matter of time until they met each other by the door, Ed holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand. He pulled a few flowers from it and handed them to her. She raised an eyebrow. "For your parents, if you want to." His voice was soft.

"Ed, really, you don't have to - "

"I want to."

Winry rolled her eyes slightly, before opening the door and exiting. She grasped his free hand again and they walked, keeping quiet and to their own thoughts. When they arrived at the cemetery, she gave Ed an encouraging smile and let go of his hand, taking her share of the flowers and heading towards where she knew her parents were buried.

She kneeled in front of the graves and said to them, "Hey, Mom, Dad. I'm here, only for a few minutes though. Ed's got a lot to do, and he doesn't seem to want to do it alone." She watched as Ed bent to place the bouquet in front of the headstone of his mother, saw him stand and stare down at it.

"He…he misses Al too, I'm sure. He's barely talked at all today, not even read a book. And you know how I told you that he'd pick arguments with me? He hasn't even done that. I mean it makes sense, but there's something so…strange about seeing him like this. Like he's just allowing himself to give in to something. Regret, maybe?"

He glanced over at her and she gave a little wave in return, before he turned and started walking towards the exit of the cemetery. "We're going to see his home now. The one I told you he burned to the ground. So he wouldn't have someplace to go back to…I love you guys."

She stood and ran to catch up with him, twining her fingers through his.

"I'm sure she knows you miss her," she whispered. His hand tightened around hers, the only response she got. They kept silent, not speaking, not even breathing too loudly.

She could see the remnants of the burned house, could feel the dread from it, the old feeling she'd tried to shove down. It made a lump in her throat appear, a lump she couldn't swallow, no matter how hard she tried.

_He's back home though_, she thought. _They came home, and they've said themselves they'll always come back. Stop feeling like you're twelve again, Win. Get a hold of yourself._ But she couldn't. She couldn't make the feelings go away. She couldn't even blink away the image of the house up in flames.

And when she blinked, a tear rolled out of her eye. The two came to a stop, and Ed asked, "Why are you crying?"

She didn't hesitate.

"You won't cry. So I will."

And he laughed, laughed until he was on his knees, hugging her in his arms. She pulled back just a bit, keeping an eye on his face. His eyes were watery. Watery, which meant tears. Watery, which meant he was trying to keep it in.

She smiled at him, letting what she'd kept back during the walk overcome her.

"Don't forget, Ed," she whispered, burying her face in his neck. His hand came up to cradle her head, the other arm around her waist, pulling her to him.

"Never."

**A/N: Written for the 100th Anniversary of the day the Elric Brothers set out on that journey. The journey originally meant to restore their bodies, but ended up with them saving an entire country, and defeating bad people. In doing so, possibly saving the entire world. **

**Part One of the .11 series I'm officially working on.**

**Next up, Alphonse.**

**(Keep in mind guys that today has had my emotions going EVERYWHERE and this is probably not the best thing I've ever written or the best thing you've ever read. I almost had to stop writing half way through because of how hard I was getting ready to cry/gush over everyone.)**


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